Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Watering Hole: May 11 — Small and Big

Carl Sagan’s The Pale Blue Dot shows us our vulnerability, our uniqueness, the importance of understanding that this is our only home, and we — all of us — our only family…as well as our relative insignificance.

A mere point in a vast encompassing cosmos…a mote of dust, suspended in a sun beam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.

But really, we are big. Neil DeGrasse Tyson reminds us that we — all of us — are made up of the guts of the universe.

The universe is in us.

Once we know a thing, we can’t unknow that thing. We have to do something with it.

And “What the fook are you looking at?” and “Do you fooking want some?” are two of a small number of questions in an ‘Essex Pub Quiz’ . There are apparently no correct anwsers to those questions – at least according the ‘Roger Mellie’s Profanisaurus.’

If Mitt Romney’s memory of things that happened in high school is so bad, why would we want him as a President? The only other explanation of why he can’t remember is that these type of events were so frequent, he can’t recall specifics?
I think he’s too old to be President if his brain cells are starting to fail, not that everyone his age has that same problem.

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ” — George Santayana, “The Life of Reason, vol 1”

A newly released video in Wisconsin could potentially have profound effects on the state’s recall election: Republican Gov. Scott Walker shown telling a wealthy supporter in January 2011 — before he introduced his legislation to roll back collective bargaining for public employees — that it was part of a “divide and conquer” strategy to take down organized labor, and potentially turn Wisconsin into a right-to-work state.

I’m sorry but that donor needs to be slapped. “Completely red state.” Sounds communistic to me.

Commies, “Reds”, and Republicans. I’ve long enjoyed the irony in those labels and have even called them out on occasion, when appropriate. Pissed my cousin off first time I tried it, so I’ve continued.

On a more ‘intellectual’ note, I know there are philosophical differences between, say, Stalin’s brand of communism and today’s conservative ‘American’ conservatism, but I’m not sure that when it comes to the imposition of tyranny, philosophical differences and aberrations make much of a difference to the common man, to the oppressed. Seems to me the differences between the extreme right (Fascism-Nazism) and the extreme left (Communism-Stalinism) become moot once imposed on any given population.

Abuse of power is abuse of power. Period. I think a new law demanding, say, an ‘intracranial ultrasound’ of the would-be power monger might be a good ‘drill’. Sotospeak. How about it, Mitt? Wanna? You won’t have to watch — you can always close your eyes!

I’ve long felt that Soviet communism, while claiming to have its roots in Marxist doctrine, is no more communist or left than Nazism was Christian despite the Hitlerian claims. Both were totalitarian dictatorships, driven by money and controlled by the military. I don’t think the world has seen a real communist country yet.

Yep, I agree. Tyranny, by any name, is tyranny, and any philosophy based on hatred and fear by/for the many with goal of money and power acquisition by/for the few is an equivalent tyranny, regardless of label. Classic Marxism and classic Socialism don’t fall under that umbrella, they’re far too oriented toward the well-being of the many. But Stalinism, Hitlerism, and today’s American Republicanism, otoh, share those common tyrannical roots, regardless of fine point definition.

What Hitler and Stalin had in common wasn’t so much their Liberal/Conservative leanings as it was their Authoritarian/Libertarian leanings. if you’ve never visited it, the website http://www.politicalcompass.org explains ti well, as well as giving you a simple 10-minute test that will help you learn your scores on both of those scales. Mine tend to end up around 8 (of 10) Liberal and 8 Libertarian, which, because the scale is set as Liberal to the left of the origin and Conservatism to the right, and Libertarianism to the bottom and Authoritarian to the top, comes out -8.0/-8.0.

Horror of horrors, Elizabeth Warren is 1/32 Native American … and CLAIMS it, ADMITS IT!!! Jeebus, what’s next? The other 31/32s are automatically now in some sort of question? I mean, think of it! The potential horrors! I have a new slogan suggestion for Scott Brown: “Brownie’s doing a heckuva job.” Quoting a former president, no less. Gives him all the honor he deserves, fucking little demented dumbass punk that he is.

In my world, Debbie’s great grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee, so that makes her 1/8 Native American. I suppose that’s why she likes so much to go camping, cook over open fires, sleep in tents, etc. Or maybe it explains her amazing intelligence and ethic? Maybe it also explains why she is not now, never has been and never will be a Republican?

I’m certain Ms. Warren put her ancestry on some questionnaire, not to seek preferential treatment as Brownie says, but because the question was asked. I always struggle to answer the same questions for my child. For race, I sometimes put human and sometimes Native American (there’s never a Native Central American option). Some things like the census ask for a tribe so I fill in Cakchiquel Maya. Then there’s the whole issue of what a Hispanic is, I don’t think the Spanish penetrated much of the Guatemalan highlands. I can imagine Ms. Warren putting down her 1/32 Native American heritage out of sheer annoyance at the stupid questions.
Back to cutting flowers for the Saturday before Mother’s Day market. 🙂

I’ve been watching Finding Your Roots on PBS with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (He of the having a beer with Obama after getting arrested trying to get into his own house fame). His focus is on African Americans, slavery and the civil war but it is always surprising where is subjects come from. An awful lot of right wingers would likely be very surprised at their true heritage. As time goes on, it will be harder and harder for them to find “pure Americans”. They, Warren, you and me are 100% human.

If there ever were a time when Tom Udall and Jeff Merkley were prophetic, it’s tonight. These two young, fine senators said it was time we changed the rules in the Senate, and we didn’t. They were right. The rest of us were wrong — or most of us now anyway. What a shame. So here we are, wasting time because of the Republicans. … And then, to top it off, one of the finest members of the Senate we’ve had, ever, was defeated yesterday by a man, listen to this, Mr. President, who campaigned on the platform that there’s too much compromise in the Senate. And he’s going to come back here and not compromise with anybody on anything. Now that’s what we need in the Senate, more people who are willing to do nothing but fight.

Duh!

I have a feeling if the Republicans take the Senate they WILL change the filibuster rule to keep the Dems from thwarting their agenda.

Here’s what needs to happen. Obama needs to get reelected. We need to get the house back. We need to retain the Senate. And we need to get rid of the filibuster. Then I think the next four years will have some hope.

I have to be honest and mention that I am tired of the Mittens and the Dog story. Sure it’s great fun to make fun of Mitt but I think the actual story is incomplete. I had read somewhere that what actually happened was that the dog was inside the car and then started shitting all over the place. The solution was to put him in the kennel on the roof. Now, I wouldn’t have done that and I’m sure not many would. But the premise of the jokes is that the dog was put on the roof right from the start of the trip.

There are many things that Mittens should be ashamed of, but this one isn’t necessarily one of them.

My nephew uses a crate inside the car. He says it keeps the car a little saner with his two girls (6 and 3 years old). We used a barrier instead because 1) Jake couldn’t help but come into the front and get in my way and 2) it’s much safer in case of an accident (I proved that to be correct on one occasion!)

I agree that it’s safer for dogs when riding in the car, but we’re talking a station wagon with a family of seven and their luggage inside. A crate that large would take up most of the back of even the biggest old station wagon. That dog was never inside on that trip.

I remember riding across country in a big old station wagon when I was a kid. The room was sufficient for three girls, but add two more? It would have been a friggin’ nightmare. The back was full of our stuff. The dog was inside, on the floor, since we were still small enough for our feet not to reach that far.

Back in the summer of 67 my family drove the familiy’s 1960 Chevy station wagon out to DC and back. Two adults, 5 kids and 1 dog. We fir everything but the tent into the car. I suppose I should mention the dog was a Toy Manchester terrier.

dycker, the animal lover in you wants to believe Mittens would do the very best for his dog companion. Unfortunately, from his actions, he does not seem to hold the dog in high regard – thus a piece of luggage to be slung on top of the car.
Willard has no compassion for “man nor beast”.

Ebb, you nailed it. Jake once shat in my car and I immediately went to a dog park, through out the mat, cleaned what I could and gave him some time to “finish”. Then I went home and cleaned up more thoroughly.

Oh come on, Jesus hung out with 12 other single dudes, when a hot girl washed his feet for him and gave him a massage he didn’t bat an eyelid …. Jesus was probably one too…. put that in your collection plate there!

So it’s not so much his behavior as a child that’s in question, it’s his lack of maturation and growth as a human being.
It’s relevant because we see the exact same Romney on the campaign trail—mocking the ponchos of NASCAR fans, laughing at the cookies proud Ohioans Pennsylvanians had laid out for him at a picnic, talking about how much he didn’t give a shit about the poor, torturing poor Seamus on family vacations, “joking” to unemployed people how he—rich asshole—was also “unemployed,” laughing about Michigan auto workers losing their jobs, bragging about how much he loves to fire people, etc.
He’s a dick. We suspected, sure, but now we know that he always was one. That he doesn’t remember the incident is just more evidence that for him, being a bully was normal, average, status quo behavior for him. And no one remembers an average day.

From Thomas Jefferson’s famous Letter To James Madison…
“What is true of generations succeeding one another at fixed epochs, as has been supposed for clearer conception, is true for those renewed daily, as in the actual course of nature. As a majority of the contracting generation will continue in being thirty four years, and a new majority will then come into possession, the former may extend their engagement to that term, and no longer. The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time, that is to say, within thirty-four years of the date of the engagement. ”

Translation: Very small planet, each generation has a responsibility not to fuck it up for the succeeding generations.

Regard for the ‘next generation’ seems (to me) to be a recurrent theme/concern of Jefferson’s. I think he believed that the young generation should be the ones in charge, as opposed to 80 year old artifacts of the past.

“But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times….”

“…And lastly, let us provide in our constitution for its revision at stated periods. What these periods should be, nature herself indicates. By the European tables of mortality, of the adults living at any moment of time, a majority will be dead in about nineteen years. At the end of the period then, a new majority is come into place; or, in other words, a new generation. Each generation is as independent of the one preceding, as that was of all which had gone before. It has then, like them, a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness….”

An excerpt from a letter from Thomas Jefferson on the idolatry of constitutions (“The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”)

I can’t agree with #4. Using the filibuster was the only way we kept some of Bush’s most egregious judicial nominees off the bench. It serves a purpose in that it protects the minority.

Having said that, the filibuster needs some major reforms. The repiggies aren’t using the filibuster to keep really bad bills from passing or keeping horrible judges off the bench, they’re abusing it to attempt to make Obama fail. That’s not what it’s meant for, but why would that stop repiggies?

Some form of the filibuster must remain. We won’t always have the majority, even after the stupid shit repiggies have been pulling for the last four years.

I agree with some form of the fillibuster rule being in play, but in such a fashion that it can’t be invoked for the convenience of blocking all action. Perhaps a limiit on how many can be invoked by type of vote….

Or having to stand up, in person, on the Senate floor and explicitly spell out exactly why you are filibustering — under oath. Then the Senate can debate on whether or not they think it’s a legitimate reason, followed by another vote as to whether or not it should be allowed. There could even be various stages to go through, but having to get up and say why you’re filibustering is the key, since campaign commercials can be made out of that shit.

No, they can’t just get up there and read the telephone book. They have to address the reason why they are filibustering in about 15 minutes — tops. Then the Senate can decide the merits of his/her reasons.

5) Constitutional Amendment to deep-six Citizens United and the 150 years of ‘corporations are people too my friend’ (and I’m not your ‘friend’ c***sucker)
6) Constitutional Amendment to direct popular vote presidential elections (the French model)

Another thing that needs to change is adding provisions to legislation that has no bearing on said legislation that puts lawmakers in a position where they can’t agree with the legislation because of the provisions.

Exactly. No more poison pills. The simplest measure would probably be to require that any amendment offered after a bill leaves committee would require 60 votes. Kinda like the current, screwed up, filibuster process.

“I’m still waiting for the moment when Romney actually tells the truth about something difficult.

He could have said, “You know, I’ve been troubled by the Cranbrook episode for most of my life, and I feel relieved, in a way, that it’s come out now. I did a really stupid and terrible thing. Teenage boys sometimes do such things, and deserve to be punished for them. What I most regret is that I never apologized to John, and won’t be able to now that he’s gone, but let me apologize to his family and friends. Bullying is unacceptable under any circumstances. It is especially unacceptable when prejudice–against race, ethnicity or sexual orientation–is involved. If elected President, I will try to atone for my teenage behavior by campaigning against bullying all across this country. What I did back then should be an example of how not to behave. I hope we can all learn from this. I know that I have.”

Instead, Romney has a near-perfect record of cowardice, obfuscation and downright lies. It shows enormous disrespect for the intelligence of the public.”

Indeed. I might even be able to consider a GOP candidate if he/she came out and said that invading Iraq was, arguably, the worst thing that this country has ever done and that he/she is sorry for any part they played in it and will devote their career to avoiding anything so horrible in the future. An admission that Bushco’s policies trashed the world’s economy would be another good first step.

Of course, that cuts both ways. Any GOoPer who can’t make that simple statement, which is all of them, is beneath my contempt and I’m deaf to any sane words they may have to say.

Public symbols of Christianity are under attack around the nation, but not in Branson, Mo., where county officials have approved a 200-foot cross that will rival American icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge, according to its developer.

And they call this news. Public displays of Christianity aren’t under attack. It’s publicly FINANCED displays of Christianity that are under attack.

If some one wants to build an attraction like this, with their own money, more power to them. And if people want to see it, and pay their own money to see it, more power to them. And I would encourage the other religions to build theirs right next door.

Esp. rural Colorado. Oh, and Colorado Springs, of course (Manitou Springs is just a stone’s toss from C.Springs). Other parts of the state aren’t nearly so nutty. We do have a pair of Dem senators and a Dem governor, so it could be a lot worse. The good news is there are a LOT of Latinos here, and they have a big hand in tipping the balance toward sanity. Still, it’s scary to be anywhere that the margins are so slender between the sane and the nuts. But that seems to pretty much define the entire US these days, doesn’t it?

Never thought I’d live to see the day. My one (and only) hope is that we’re as close to crossing the sanity line in the dark direction that we’ll ever get, that we’ll gradually swing back the other way, starting this year. I’ve decided to not hold my breath in anticipation, however.

That tingling feeling you get from dancing closely is a SIN! God knows when you get it and he’ll punish you by making you uncomfortable with the opposite sex and turn you into a sexual deviant. Wait, that punishment comes from ignorant parents.

Shelby’s company, Carroll Shelby International, said Friday that Shelby died a day earlier at a Dallas hospital. He had received a heart transplant in 1990 and a kidney transplant in 1996.

He was one of the nation’s longest-living heart transplant recipients, having received a heart on June 7, 1990, from a 34-year-old man who died of an aneurism. Shelby also received a kidney transplant in 1996 from his son, Michael.

I’ve heard him joke about his transplants, that he’d live as long as they could get spare parts for him. But hey, 89 is pretty good for anyone who raced in the 50s and 60s, considering the mortality rate of drivers in those days.

When I had a baby girl I named her Taylor because I didn’t want people to know if she was a boy or girl when she applied for serious jobs. And she wants to be a singer so it doesn’t matter. MSNBC has this talented pundit who ran for Congress and her name is Krystal Ball. How many votes did that cost her I wonder. Murphy’s law?

She was on Dylan Rattigan who wasn’t there today which is why I bothered watching. But his replacement and some RWer both said something about the Obama arena being empty when that was proved false. So I wasn’t paying too much attention to what it was about but heard her getting angry and she sounded good.

Off MSNBC this PM.Big banks go after 401k trillions
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are adding staff, creating easier-to-use technology and competing on fees in an effort to win a bigger share of the trillions of dollars in 401k savings plans.

Mormons are supposed to be so into family ties, but who was out there helping the niece with the yard? Neighbors. 🙄

I can understand why she wasn’t working. Special needs children can take up a lot of time, and with the husband gone, she’d have to be working all the time and the child wouldn’t get the help she needs.

Not all of us were bullies in school. I remember tripping a bully going after a nerd when I was young. And some of us have always been sensitive to the underdog. We’re progressives. And some of us only care about ourselves and have no empathy for those in trouble. Republicans.

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that governors’ proclamations of a state Day of Prayer violate the Constitution’s provisions for religious liberty.

When the state sponsors the religious practice of prayer, the three-judge panel found, it sends a message that those who pray are favored members of Colorado’s political community.

“In doing so, they undermine the premise that the government serves believers and nonbelievers equally,” Judge Steven Bernard wrote in a 73-page decision.

The content of six Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations, 2004 to 2009, is “predominantly religious,” lacking a secular context or purpose, and the effect is “government endorsement of religion over nonreligion,” Bernard wrote. Judges Alan Loeb and Nancy Lichtenstein concurred. […]

The addition of zippers to your sewing skills reminds me of a leather worker, Jacob, who was asked by his lifelong friend, Abraham, a mohel, to create something from the foreskins he had saved from the thousands of brit milahs he had performed over 43 years. What Jacob fashioned was something not much bigger than a Daytimer wallet and when he presented it to his friend Abraham looked at it and said, somewhat indignately, “So what is this little thing? This is what I get for 43 years, a wallet?”

“Not to worry, my friend,” Jacob replied. ” You rub it real good and ot turns into a 3-suiter.”

Woo-hoo! I’m back on solid food. Anyone who has been on a liquid diet for a day or two should be familiar with just how good those first few bites taste. In my case? A few popcorn shrimp along with a cup of homemade clam chowder. Pure ambrosia.

That’s wrong. Just wrong. I can force down cheap beer when someone gives it to me, just to be polite, but normally I can’t stand the stuff. Plus, one of the advantages of drinking stronger and more flavorful beers, “heavier” beer is less likely to be consumed by the swarm of vultures I call friends.

I’m lucky. My friendly neighborhood booze merchant has a local brewery’s products on permanent sale for $9.59 a 12 pack. They’re all good and vary from 5.5% to 7.3% alcohol. I’m especially fond of their India Pale Ale which, at 6.9%, usually does the trick with three bottles.

Thanks, Jane. One of the many things I like about my neighborhood is that a local bar-n-grill has an excellent cook who makes great soups. I could do as well but it’s silly for me to make a whole batch of soup just for me. Although I must admit that the bartender gives me a weird look when I pull out my pepper mill!